Pinebook Pro Battery Mod Tips and Images

[phuzy]

I decided to increase the battery capacity of my PBP by adding an additional 2600mAh LiPo battery in parallel to the stock battery - images attached.

Sharing some tips for anyone else who may want to attempt the mod.

• Due to the narrowing of the PBP towards the trackpad, ensure that the battery you want to add will fit with the lower panel screwed on.
  
• The stock battery is comprised of two LiPo cells in parallel, a plastic frame with four screw holes, a dense foam filler (as there is some empty space between the LiPos and the plastic frame), taped together with large black adhesive sheets.
  
• The tape/adhesive sheet used to assemble the battery isn't TOO difficult to work with but the adhesive on the larger sheets may come off as you peel it back.
  
• There is a battery protection circuit that electronically resides between the LiPo cells and the battery connector that connects to the main board.
  
• The battery protection circuit has six pads - three for battery negative, and three for battery positive.
  
• The additional battery can be connected to available or occupied pads on the battery protection circuit as needed - you should only do so when the voltages of the batteries are nearly identical.
  
• For my mod, I removed a portion of the plastic frame and foam to make room for the additional cell so that the battery would be more compact overall.
  

[Syonyk]

Nice! Have you been able to update the battery monitoring circuitry with the new capacity, or does it just pick it up after a few cycles?

[phuzy]

Nice!  Have you been able to update the battery monitoring circuitry with the new capacity, or does it just pick it up after a few cycles?

That's one thing I'm looking out for.

Just drained it 0% and recharging it now - at 57%. Energy Consumption Statistics below.

Battery
Rechargeable: Yes
Charge state: Charging
Current charge: 57 %
Health: 100 %
Model: Lithium Ion Battery
Technology: Lithium ion

Energy
Voltage: 3.93 V
Remaining energy: 21.96 Wh
Last full charge: 38.53 Wh
Original charge capacity: 38.44 Wh

I hope the stats will update automatically to account for the increased capacity (the last full charge is increasing).

Quick Update: The Original charge capacity is definitely increasing. Last check it was above 40.00 Wh.

[as400]

Great mod !

Do you have more pictures of the insides and connections ?

What battery model did you use ?

[phuzy]

Unfortunately, this is a fairly standard mod for me so I didn't document it rigorously - I may add additional capacity in the future and will keep in mind to take more photos then. Feel free to ask specific details and I will do my best to describe them.

The battery was a random one I had in my collection of salvaged LiPos - model number PP045582AB - google says the dimensions are 137*45*4.1mm.

LiPos come in a variety of dimensions and depending on whether or not you are willing to cut away more of the plastic frame, you likely can fit larger ones as desired. The primary constraint is the narrowing of the enclosure towards the trackpad edge.

Personally, I wanted to keep all four screw-holes on the plastic frame intact as well as not obstructing the NVME mounting area.

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Updated energy consumption statistics after one charge cycle since the mod.

[as400]

Thanks for additional details.
Do you know from what device this battery comes from ?

[Syonyk]

Nice, so it is picking up the new capacity! That's excellent news!

As far as those little pouch batteries, it doesn't matter what they come from - they're sold by dimensions. It's typically a 6 digit "model number," height/width/depth or something. Just poke around eBay, you can find plenty of them.